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Frank Hester

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Frank Hester
OBE
Born
Francis Xavier James Hester

1966 (age 57–58)
NationalityBritish
OccupationBusinessman
TitleFounder, owner and CEO, The Phoenix Partnership
Spouse
Rosemary Daly
​
(divorced)​

Francis Xavier James Hester OBE (born April 1966) is a British businessman, and the founder, owner and CEO of software company The Phoenix Partnership. He is the largest ever donor to the Conservative Party having given £10 million in the year up to March 2024.

Biography

Hester is of Irish descent and grew up in Armley, a district in the west of Leeds, West Yorkshire.[1] Both of his parents immigrated from Ireland to the United Kingdom.[2]

Hester is the sole owner of The Phoenix Partnership, which he founded in 1997 and specialises in providing healthcare technology.[1][3][4] In the 2015 New Year Honours, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to healthcare.[5][6] The Guardian reported that contracts worth £135m since April 2020 were awarded to his company by the Department of Health and Social Care, the majority for work under the GP IT Futures framework.[7]

Political affiliations

In September 2023, Hester donated £5 million to the UK's Conservative Party, making him the joint biggest donor in two decades.[8][9][10] These donations were made by his company TPP, but TPP said Hester personally repaid it, and that the company is apolitical.[7] He made a second £5 million donation to the Conservatives through his company in November 2023, making Hester the largest ever donor to the party.[11][12][13][14] It has been reported that he had donated a further £5 million in 2024, which the party neither confirmed nor denied,[15][16] but was later verified after Electoral Commission records were published.[17]

He said he previously voted for the Green Party, but became a Conservative Party donor after coming to the view that prime minister Rishi Sunak "understands and values the NHS and wants to tackle some of its most pressing challenges".[1] Sunak and Hester met on a number of occasions in 2023, and in November 2023, Hester provided the use of a helicopter to prime minister Rishi Sunak for a political visit, valued at £15,000 in parliamentary records.[18][19]

Alleged comments about Diane Abbott and others

In March 2024, The Guardian reported that Hester had made comments in a 2019 company meeting about the MP Diane Abbott. The paper reported that he said that looking at Abbott makes you "want to hate all black women" and that she "should be shot", as well as making comments about a female executive from another organisation, saying "it would be much better if she died", and about his own Asian female employees, saying “we take the piss out of the fact that all our Chinese girls sit together in Asian corner”.[20] BBC News also reported what The Guardian said, adding that they were unable to verify that the alleged remarks had been made.[21] The Guardian also reported that Hester's lawyers had said "that Hester’s comments had been distorted and taken out of context, and were not a true or accurate characterisation of the company or Hester".[20] A statement from The Phoenix Partnership said Hester "accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin". The statement said Hester abhorred racism.[20]

The prime minister's official spokesperson initially condemned the remarks but did not call them racist.[22][23] Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said the comments about Abbott "were clearly inappropriate" but people should "move on" and such comments were not "race-based" and "had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin". Energy Minister Graham Stuart said while the remarks were "ridiculous" he would "hesitate" to call them racist.[23][24] Many opposition politicians criticised Hester's reported comments and called such comments racist.[23] The Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch and then the prime minister Rishi Sunak separately described Hester's alleged comments as "racist" although Sunak declined to return Hester's political donations.[25] Abbott, who described the comments as "frightening", filed a complaint about the reported remarks to the Metropolitan Police's Parliamentary Liaison and Investigation Team. Hester said he had tried twice to apologise to her, by phone, once the comments were made public.[26]

On 14 March, as a result of Hester's alleged remarks, health workers' trade union, the British Medical Association (BMA), called upon Hester to resign from his company TPP. The BMA's general practitioners' committee (GPC) voted in favour of an emergency motion that he had "contravened NHS England's fit and proper person test framework introduced in response to the 2019 Kark review recommendations." The co-chairs of the GPC general practitioners' committee said that the passing of the motion, "makes it clear how appalled GPs are". Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, which represents half a million NHS workers, echoed the views of the doctors' body.[27]

Personal life

Hester was previously married to Dr Rosemary Daly, a former[28] general practitioner; she was described as "now ex-wife" by The Guardian in 2024.[29][12][30]

As of 2024, the Sunday Times Rich List estimated his net worth at £371 million.[31]

References

  1. ^ a b c Burn, Chris (6 September 2023). "Leading Leeds businessman Frank Hester donates £5m to the Conservative Party - this is why". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Frank Hester: The major Tory donor embroiled in racism row". The Irish News. 13 March 2024.
  3. ^ "Frank Hester: Tory donor accused of racist Diane Abbott remarks". BBC News. 11 March 2024.
  4. ^ Walker, Peter (14 March 2024). "Tories urged to return further £5m donation made by Frank Hester". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  5. ^ "No. 61092". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 31 December 2014. p. N13.
  6. ^ "New Year's Honours for health and social care". Gov.uk. No. 31 December 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  7. ^ a b "One of Tories' biggest ever donors profited from £135m of NHS contracts". 20 September 2023. Archived from the original on 20 September 2023.
  8. ^ Kleinman, Mark (5 September 2023). "Healthcare tycoon Hester swells Tory election warchest with £5m donation". Sky News. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  9. ^ "Why I'm giving £5 million to the Conservatives". The Telegraph. 5 September 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Tories boosted by £5m donation from healthcare entrepreneur". The Telegraph. 5 September 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  11. ^ Seddon, Sam Francis & Paul (14 March 2024). "Frank Hester: Sunak under pressure over new funds from racism accused donor". BBC News. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  12. ^ a b Mason, Rowena (11 March 2024). "Frank Hester: computer programmer who made fortune from public sector contracts". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  13. ^ Mason, Rowena (20 September 2023). "One of Tories' biggest ever donors profited from £135m of NHS contracts". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  14. ^ Riley-Smith, Ben (29 February 2024). "Health tech boss becomes biggest ever Tory donor with second £5m gift". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  15. ^ Walker, Peter; Mason, Rowena (14 March 2024). "Tories urged to return 'further £5m donation made by Frank Hester'". the Guardian. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  16. ^ Neilan, Catherine (14 March 2024). "Exclusive: Tory party "sitting on" further £5m from disgraced donor Frank Hester". Tortoise. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  17. ^ Catt, Helen; McKieren, Jennifer (12 September 2024). "Tories took £5m from Hester days before election called". BBC.
  18. ^ "Tory donor's alleged Diane Abbott remarks were racist, says Kemi Badenoch". BBC News. 12 March 2024. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  19. ^ Mason, Rowena; Walker, Peter; Dyer, Henry (16 March 2024). "Sunak under pressure to say how many times he has met Tory donor Frank Hester". the Guardian. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  20. ^ a b c "Biggest Tory donor said looking at Diane Abbott makes you 'want to hate all black women'". The Guardian. 11 March 2024. Retrieved 11 March 2024. The Guardian has learned of a 2019 meeting at TPP's headquarters in which Hester spoke about an executive from another organisation, saying: "She's shit. She's the shittest person. Honestly I try not to be sexist but when I meet somebody like [the executive], I just … It's like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV and you're just like, I hate, you just want to hate all black women because she's there, and I don't hate all black women at all, but I think she should be shot. [The executive] and Diane Abbott need to be shot. She's stupid … If we can get [the executive] being unprofessional we can get her sacked. It's not as good as her dying. It would be much better if she died. She's consuming resource. She's eating food that other people could eat. You know?"
  21. ^ Mason, Chris; Whannel, Kate (13 March 2024). "Tory donor's alleged comments about Diane Abbott were racist, says Downing Street". BBC News.
  22. ^ Burrell, Nicholas Cecil, Michael Howie, Jitendra Joshi, Miriam (12 March 2024). "PM finally admits Tory donor rant against Abbott is 'racist and wrong'". Evening Standard. Retrieved 14 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ a b c Mason, Rowena; Adu, Aletha (12 March 2024). "Tory donor's comments about Diane Abbott 'racist and wrong', No 10 says". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  24. ^ "Minister defends donor over Diane Abbott remarks". BBC News. 12 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  25. ^ "Frank Hester: Rishi Sunak say he won't return money from donor accused of racism". BBC News. 14 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  26. ^ "Diane Abbott reports Tory donor Frank Hester to police 'over racist comments that she 'should be shot'". independent.co.uk. 12 March 2024.
  27. ^ Boffey, Daniel; Weaver, Matthew; Mason, Rowena; Dyer, Henry (15 March 2024). "Health workers' unions call for Frank Hester to lose NHS contracts". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  28. ^ "Rosemary Daly". General Medical Council.
  29. ^ "TPP CEO Frank Hester officially marks the key construction milestone at the company's new Horsforth HQ". ISG. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  30. ^ "Five minutes with ... the founder of a healthcare technology company". The Guardian. 2 August 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  31. ^ "The Sunday Times Rich List 2024". www.thetimes.com. 13 June 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
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